WTF?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14809852/

Passenger tries to open jet’s exit door mid-flight
Man subdued by other travelers, air marshals after unruly behavior
Updated: 2:15 a.m. ET Sept 13, 2006

CHANTILLY, Va. - A man wearing military fatigues and throwing punches into the air tried to open the exit door of a jet during a cross-country flight on Tuesday night, airline officials and passengers said.

United Airlines Flight 890 from Los Angeles landed as scheduled at Washington Dulles International Airport at 8:35 p.m., said Amy Kudwa, a Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman. No one was injured.

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Are people just totally losing it when it comes to air travel these days?

Also, just a thought - "military fatigues" with "special ops" patches and "jiujitsu" patches? Reeks of military wannabe poser to me.

DV

Newsweek Article on Iraq Fatigue

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757928/site/newsweek/

Straight to the Heart
Battle Cries: For U.S. troops and their wives and children, the Iraq war's invisible costs just keep on piling up.
By Michael Hastings
Newsweek Sept. 18, 2006 issue

Toward the end of July, Capt. Brad Velotta began daydreaming a lot. He thought about making the summer's last run of salmon in Alaska's Russian River, where bears lumber down from the woods and chase fishermen out of the water. He thought about getting a kitten for his 3-year-old daughter, Sophia. Most of all, Velotta hoped to see his 83-year-old grandmother Mary one last time before she died of cancer. "She thought she could hold on," says Velotta's father, Albert, at the family home in Alexandria, La. Her grandson was supposed to leave Iraq on Aug. 2. "She thought it would only be a few weeks more."

But it wasn't. On July 26, Velotta learned that he and his unit, the 172nd Stryker Brigade, were going not home but to the core of Iraq's sectarian blood feud: Baghdad. After a solid year of battling the insurgency, from Mosul to Tall Afar to the westernmost reaches of Al Anbar province, the 172nd has been extended until after Thanksgiving—if not later. Velotta, 29, Blackhawk Company commander in the 172nd's 4-23 infantry battalion, gave a tough talk to his squad leaders: "I know it f---ing sucks. But you don't have the option to not be motivated. You don't have the privilege to be worn out. This is Baghdad. This is graduate-level s--t."

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This is something I wish people would take to heart.

Yes, soldiers have volunteered for a specific lifestyle (it's more than a career or a job), and if we didn't realize that it involved sacrifices, we really shouldn't have joined.

There is also a moral requirement, in my opinion, that those sacrfices not be thrown away, or requested just because they can be requested.

Also, not to bust any bubbles, but there's a lot of factors involved in reenlistment. It's not just "I love the Army sooo much". It can be the money factor (tax free bonuses in Iraq, lump sum) - the desire to get the hell away from wherever you're stationed - the desire to stay somewhere so your kids can stay in school - the opportunity to change jobs.

DV

Real Soldiers Being Used in Computer Game, and as Action Figures

I found this on Army Knowledge Online, so I can't supply a link that I can be sure will work for non-AKO users. If you have access, it was on the front page.

U.S. ARMY LAUNCHES AMERICA’S ARMY REAL HEROES PROGRAM
Real Soldiers to be Featured in America’s Army PC Game and as Action Figures

West Point, N.Y., September 14, 2006 – Every day American Soldiers are heroically fighting terrorism around the globe. With today’s launch of the America’s Army Real Heroes Program, the U.S. Army is offering a glimpse into the accomplishments of Soldiers who have distinguished themselves in combat and earned citations for bravery and valor. The Army’s exceptionally popular computer game, America’s Army, along with a new line of action figures, will feature these heroic Soldiers and highlight the actions for which they were awarded citations for valor.

Introduction of Real Heroes into the online world of America’s Army provides young adults with concrete examples of how young Soldiers from across America make profound contributions in the defense of freedom and how their contributions have fundamentally shaped their personal development. With the release of America’s Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) (www.americasarmy.com), the Real Heroes and their stories will provide the game’s over 7.5 million registered users with new insights into Soldiering in the U.S. Army. The Real Heroes will also be highlighted on the official U.S. Army site (www.goarmy.com) and as collectable action figures available at major retail outlets in the coming months.

With users having invested over 160 million hours virtually exploring the Army from Basic Training to operations in the War on Terrorism, America’s Army ranks among the top five online PC action games played worldwide. The game provides a unique, interactive experience allowing players to gain a perspective into Army occupations and values by assuming virtual roles as U.S. Army Soldiers. Players navigate through challenges real Soldiers confront. As they dominate these challenges, they expand opportunities for advancement and development in roles from Special Forces to combat medic.
The America’s Army Real Heroes are but a few of the Soldiers who have exhibited courage under fire and earned awards for distinguished service and valor in the Global War on Terrorism. America’s Army Real Heroes have earned some of the nation’s highest awards for valor including the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, and Bronze Star for Valor. They are emblematic of the more than 1,700 Army heroes who have earned such awards for action in the Global War on Terrorism.

These Soldiers embody the Warrior Ethos – a Soldier will always place the mission first, never accept defeat, never quit, and never leave a fallen comrade.
“The America’s Army Real Heroes program puts a face on some of the exceptional Soldiers who are at the forefront in the defense of freedom. Young adults learn of some of the accomplishments of these heroic men and women and about their motivations to serve their country,” said Colonel Casey Wardynski, Project Director for America’s Army.

The Soldiers who comprise the initial cadre of Real Heroes include:
• Staff Sergeant Timothy Nein, 503d Military Police Battalion, Distinguished Service Cross for heroism in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Sergeant Tommy Riemen, 51st Long Range Surveillance Infantry (Airborne), Silver Star for heroism in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Sergeant First Class Gerald Wolford, 82nd Airborne, Silver Star for heroism in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Sergeant Matthew Zedwick, 2-162 Infantry, Silver Star for heroism in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Sergeant Leigh Hester, 503d Military Police Battalion, Silver Star for heroism in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Sergeant Jason Mike, 503d Military Police Battalion, Silver Star for heroism in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
• Master Sergeant Scott Neil, 5th Special Forces Group, Bronze Star with V Device for heroism in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
• Major Jason Amerine, 5th Special Forces Group, Bronze Star with V Device for heroism in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

America’s Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) marks the 22d update to the America’s Army game that launched on July 4, 2002 and the third major release of America’s Army focused upon the central role Special Forces play in the Global War on Terrorism. The Special Forces series includes America’s Army: Special Forces (Special Forces Assessment and Selection) released November 2003; America’s Army: Special Forces (Q Course) released May 2005; and America’s Army: Special Forces (Overmatch).
In addition to Real Heroes, America’s Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) includes missions featuring cooperative gameplay against Artificial Intelligence in which players experience the overmatch capabilities that the U.S. Army brings to the battlefield to engage and defeat much larger hostile forces. The game also includes a “record brief” for each player, replicating records maintained for each Soldier in the Army. Players also gain the ability to employ new weapons systems including the Javelin Missile and the CROWS.

Launched in July 2002, America’s Army is an innovative PC action game that provides young adults with an inside perspective and a virtual role in today’s high-tech Army. The America’s Army game presents a virtual portal into the Army for exploring the development of Soldiers in individual and collective training to their employment in simulated missions in the Global War on Terrorism.

Through the teamwork of the more than 1.2 million Soldiers in the active Army, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve, the U.S. Army is the world’s premier land force. Today, Soldiers of the U.S. Army are the front line in the Global War on Terrorism. For more information on the U.S. Army, go to www.goarmy.com or www.army.mil.

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It makes you wonder if any of these soldiers played with GI Joes when they were kids. Because they're about to be one...

DV

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Having been tipped off by celticdragonfly, allow me to wish joyeuse13 a Happy Birthday!

DV

(no subject)

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=13294

This article on how feminism is "destroying mankind" (the author's choice of words, not mine) was tipped in a comment in ginmar's blog. It's linked to another feminst blog, Echidne of the Snakes.

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WE'VE GONE THE WRONG WAY, BABY: Feminism's Proud Destruction of Mankind
Resa LaRu Kirkland
9/7/2006

I'm ashamed to be a woman. I feel less for it... like I don't quite measure up. Now understand, men have never made me feel less. No, this inferiority complex began about 35 years ago with a little thing called Feminism. Feminism has made me ashamed of my sex-as a group and individually.

( Read more... )

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Hmmm, where to start, where to start?

There was a time when women deserved respect-because we are mothers, because of our natural softness and tender feelings, because we have been the ones who raised up righteous leaders of good nations for centuries now.

Except, of course, that all that respect didn't get us the right to vote, the right to leave an abusive marriage and still have our children, the right to be treated as adults rather than children in a legal sense. All that respect didn't keep men from battering and otherwise mistreating women. Then, they just called it "within their rights".

Not to mention the women who are NOT mothers. Some by choice, some by chance.

In the sixties, women began taking the easy way out. Why? Because Motherhood is a damned hard thing to do. It is 24/7/365.

Yes, because being a working mother is easy. You don't do anything when you come home. /sarcasm
Being a working mother is like having 2 full-time jobs. The fathers of my generation are starting to be more involved, but mothers who work (many because they must) tend to come home from one job and right into another.

No, this is about the fact that these Stalinistic Types who decided that women deserved better--not just equal-treatment than men have overtaken, destroyed, and even in the face of logic and reason-and their own case studies and evaluations--turned to typical female histrionics to bludgeon society into doing what they say.

"Typical female histrionics" to get our way? Wait, hasn't she just been talking about all the respect society has for women, all the power we have? Why would we have to resort to pitching a fit to get what we want?

It was the women of the world-not the men-who force fed women the notion that what comes naturally to men-to conquer the outside world-was more important, better, more deserving than what comes naturally to women.

"Naturally"? Oh you mean after society beat it into us.
It's not that it's more important, it's that they thought women deserved the same opportunity as men.

For those who still don't grasp it, let me say it in plain speech: Feminism is the party of the "anti-child."

And this would be why feminists argue for things like mandatory maternity leave and better access to better day care centers, right?

Here's what you're gonna do. Women, go home. Get rid of the huge mortgage and move into a trailer.

It must be nice to live in this writer's world. There's obviously no women who work because they must - because they are single mothers - because their husbands cannot work - because they want to provide their children with advantages like better schools and more chances for a better life.

It is simple, it is time tested, it is true. The hand that rocks the cradle did-at one time-rule the world.

I'm sorry, but I have got to call bullshit on this one.

Note, the author is an "avid military historian", is working on her grad degree in military history (sure sounds tender and caring to me), enjoys "power-lifting, snowmobiling, activities of any nature", and has nicknames like "The Pitbull".

I wonder if she hangs out with Dr. Laura (who berates women for not staying home with their children, while she has a very active career. Or Phyllis Schafly, who told women to stay at home while she traveled and campaigned.

Practice what you preach, and don't try to force me, or any other woman into the role YOU envision for us.

If women want to stay home - if they feel it's the best thing for their child, or it's simply what they want to do - go for it. Feminism is meant to be about having choices, not just being shuffled off into one box.

And for God's sake, quit trying to pit working mothers against stay-at-home mothers - because when it comes down to it, members of both groups are all mothers, and want what's best for our families, and for us. The two should not be exclusive.

DV